Posted on 05/16/2002 8:03:50 AM PDT by callisto
If you don't recall seeing the blaring post-9-11 headline "Clinton Warned on Bin Laden Hijack-Kamikaze Plot," it's not because your memory is failing. In fact, the big media mostly ignored the story - in marked contrast to today's wall-to-wall coverage of news that President Bush received a pre-9-11 CIA briefing on a possible bin Laden hijack plot. And while the warning transmitted to Bush gave no inkling that bin Laden planned to transform U.S. airliners into flying bombs and slam them into American office buildings, in fact, Clinton administration intelligence officials were in the possession of detailed information on an al Qaeda conspiracy to hijack several U.S. airliners - including a plan to crash one of the planes into the Pentagon or CIA. It was called "Operation Bojinka," a 1995 plot hatched by an al Qaeda cell in the Philippines with an eye towards blowing up 12 American airliners. Some would be booby trapped with bombs like Pan Am 103, others hijacked like the four U.S. jets commandeered on 9-11 and crashed into buildings. Though the mainstream press never demonstrated much enthusiasm for the story, Accuracy in Media's Reed Irvine detailed what the Clinton administration knew - and when it knew it - for NewsMax.com last October. Citing a Sept. 13 Agence France-Presse report, Irvine noted that Philippine Police Chief Superintendent Avelino Razon had uncovered the plot to "plant bombs in U.S. airliners and hijack others to crash them into buildings like the CIA headquarters." "Razon said (the plot) was found on the computer of Ramzi Yousef, the organizer of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center," Irvine reported. "He had fled to Pakistan, but his laptop was found in the apartment he shared with his accomplice, Abdul Hakim Murad. Razon said both were agents of Osama bin Laden." A later Agence France-Press report noted: "Among targets mentioned (in Yousef's computer files) was the World Trade Center in New York..... CIA offices in Virginia and the Sears Tower in Chicago." Picking up where Irvine left off, the Washington Post quoted a Filipino investigator, who said that as he watched the attack on the World Trade Center on television he exclaimed in horror, "It's Bojinka. We told the Americans everything about Bojinka. Why didn't they pay attention?" Chief Police Superintendent Avelino Razon told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the Philippine intelligence report was passed on to the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Joint Task Force on Terrorism. "It was not given credibility. Otherwise, it could have prevented the destruction of the World Trade Center," he explained. The Clinton FBI was in full possession of all the frightening facts on Bojinka, but did nothing. Instead, as Reed Irvine revealed, the bureau assured Congress that everything was under control. "In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee on Terrorism in February 1998, 'Bojinka' - which means 'big bang' - was described by Dale L. Watson, chief of the International Terrorism Operations Section of the FBI, only as a plot to blow up 'numerous U.S. air carriers.' "He said that the FBI had identified 'a significant and growing organizational presence' of foreign terrorists in the United States. He swore the bureau had them under control." The Clinton FBI counterintelligence chief told the Senate that as a result of the bombings of the World Trade Center in 1993 and the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 the FBI had developed an 'enhanced capability' to track terrorist activities. Is it likely that U.S. intelligence possessed this much information on al Qaeda plans to slam planes into U.S. buildings - and didn't tell President Clinton? Actually it is, if you believe the account of his former CIA Director James Woolsey, who said Clinton never bothered to meet with him during his stint as the nation's intelligence chief. What about other administration officials, like Attorney General Janet Reno, who certainly should have known about Bojinka? There Clinton may also have an alibi. During all of 1998 - the same year FBI counterintelligence briefed Congress on the al Qaeda hijack plot - Clinton met with his Cabinet exactly twice: Once in January to lie to them about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, and again in August to come clean about the affair. Want to know more about why U.S intelligence missed the 9-11 clues during the Clinton years. Get your copy of NewsMax.com's "Off the Record" interview with FBI whistleblower Gary Aldrich.
That's a bit much.
Darn straight!
Bill, "Bojinka" Clinton had the helm when the USS Cole was bombed. A good chief executive would have wanted ALL intelligence on terrorist plans and activity and investigate all leads. Did "Bojinka"? Of course not.
You people that love the "Great Fake President", Bill, "Bojinka" Clinton need to come to grips that he was only PLAYING president and not acting AS a president. 9/11 is the historical Albatross around Bojinka's neck, for eternity.
So you're blaming Clinton for not being in power on 9/11 and stopping the terrorists who were funded by Bin Laden?Where did you get the idea that I was blaming Clinton for not being in the power on 911. Personally I thank God that he wasn't in charge. He is a piss-poor example of American Presidents IMHO. Now, I do blame him for ignoring the problem and for using Bin laden as a tool for the public's diversion from his Leminsky mess. He sold out our country and it's national secrets for campaign donations. I can't wait until further revelations of Clinton's misdeeds.[/sarcasm]That's a bit much
That didn't happen. I was on the front lines in 1998 along with hundreds of others, including Sen. Inhofe, and Long Beach Naval Station was NOT turned over to COSCO control. They do have a presence there since we trade with China, but they don't control the port.
However, we have a Democrat for Transport Secretary and Jane Garvey (also dem) as Administrator of the FAA. Garvey is NOT a pilot but an attorney. Would the American Bar Assn. choose an airline pilot for its president just because one is a "Good Administrator"? I think not!
As for the entry of A-rabs through California's Chinese Port, I haven't seen anything yet and I don't expect to read it in the Left Angeles Times.
On Dec. 19th, 2000, the day after the electoral college elected George Bush...Clinton went to the UN and insisted (against Kofi's wishes!) that they threaten the Taliban one more time....giving them 30 days 'til further sanctions would be placed on the Afghani people if they didn't hand over Osama. Why would Clinton egg on the Taliban and set a time limit of Jan. 19th, inaugeration eve, for the deadline? What kind of a person would put his personal vengence ahead of the nation's security?
I recall that there was lots of confusion over transition to power issues, during the compressed timeframe caused by the Florida vote count fiasco. As slick had detuned all intelligence gathering efforts, perhaps the lack of information pass-thru could be placed at the hands of "ficticious chads"
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